Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

Danton bared his teeth. “You don’t understand anything, not at all! Get out of the way and let me deal with this!”

A roomful of people was poised to jump, if only they knew which way to go. Steel was twitching toward Eliot—but surely Majors wouldn’t want him to attack his own son. Arthur and the others seemed to be choosing their targets.

As enthralling as this was, Celia had had quite enough. It was time to go home. “Danton Majors, you should have gagged me when you had the chance,” she said.

“What?”

She yelled, “Take out the skinny guy, he’s the mentalist blocking Arthur!”

She pulled her hand out of the strap and pointed at Mindwall, who still crouched by the wall. His eyes went round, and he jumped and ran. Then everyone ran.

Mindwall didn’t get far before tripping on nothing but thin air—and that must have been Teddy, still here, still invisible, still incredibly helpful. Teia and Sam charged toward him, Shark and Sonic charged after them, and Steel appeared at Celia’s side, a razor-edged arm held across her throat.

“Don’t move again,” he muttered.

She glanced up, held his gaze. “You are done. ”

When Majors lunged toward her, planting his hands on the arms of the chair, looming over her, she flinched back, startled. “You did this, didn’t you? You turned my own son against me.”

“I’ve never met the guy, but if it helps you sleep better at night, sure.”

The only response he could manage was a wordless snarl. He turned to Steel. “I’ll watch her. Guard Mindwall. If that block goes, the telepath will kill us all.”

Arthur would never do that, but Celia could spend hours explaining that to Majors, and he’d never believe her. How he must have wished Mindwall could do more with his powers.

The battle was a mess, pure and simple. The Fletcher twins hitting the room with wind-driven rain and ice wasn’t helping, more like turning everything into a soggy frozen mess. Maybe the bad guys would slow down when hypothermia set in. The Commerce City heroes focused their attentions on Mindwall, as Celia had requested, but the Deltas were tripping them up. Paulson and the SWAT guys had guns but no clear targets. Everyone was moving and tangled together. Arthur pulled Anna to the wall, shielding her with his body.

Sam managed to pin down Shark with his blasts, but no more than that. The kid had more in him—he’d blasted down walls, after all. But Celia realized: He was holding to the old Olympiad ideal and avoiding lethal force. He must have thought if he could just keep Shark from doing damage, he wouldn’t have to actually hurt him. The teenager was trying very hard not to kill. So freaking admirable, Celia wanted to cry. But she knew Sam was making a mistake. The Delta team didn’t seem to have such ideals.

The inevitable moment came when a squeal from Sonic distracted Sam, and the swarm of insectlike laser bolts ceased. Shark took advantage of the lull, and his superstrength made him unstoppable. The others, going after Mindwall and doing battle with Sonic and Steel, couldn’t help Sam. The strong man seemed twice as big as the teenager, three times as muscular, and was faster than should have been possible for someone that size. Growling, he grabbed up Sam, put his head in a lock, and wrenched back his arm until the boy cried out. Shark pivoted, swung, and threw, and Sam sailed … not toward any walls but toward the shattered windows. He fell through and down, screaming.

Anna screamed with him. Arthur grabbed her, to keep her from running after him.

Eliot ran toward the open wall and leaped.

Lew threw himself to the floor, leaned over the edge past the broken glass, arm reaching. “I can get him, I can catch him!” he yelled, while Teia and Analise both kept hold of him, begging him to come away from the space. Celia held her breath, unable to look away.

Outside, wind howled, debris rocketing into the office. The sky darkened, and black clouds descended until they shrouded the buildings across the street.

The thin tornado that passed by didn’t seem any more surreal than the rest of it. Not too big, it could travel down the streets without causing too much damage. Just the right size to buoy a falling boy to safety. Celia prayed.

“Did you get him?” Anna begged. Her voice had gone thin, fearful.

“I don’t know,” Lew said, gasping. “That guy, Eliot—he’s jumping, he hit the building across the street and jumped over. He’s got him, I think he’s got him!” The excitement darkened. “He looks hurt. They hit the ground, I can’t see them.”

In the meantime, Paulson leveled a handgun at Majors. “Commerce City PD. Danton Majors, stand down, tell your people to stand down. This is over.”

Instead of surrendering, Majors raised a hand, and Steel lunged forward, arm leading like a lance. Paulson couldn’t swing around in time. The sword arm impaled him through the middle. The flak vest didn’t slow Steel down, and the superhuman grabbed the gun from Paulson’s hand as the police captain dropped to his knees, groaning, arm clutched around his middle.

One of the SWAT guys shot at Steel, but he merely flinched back, and the bullet ricocheted into a wall. Snarling, Steel rounded on the cop, who didn’t have much choice but to try again. Meanwhile, Shark stood before Analise and her family, threatening merely with his presence, and Sonic focused her attention on Arthur and Anna.

Celia’s hands clenched, and her throat closed, too shocked to cry out. This was too high a price to pay for her rescue. Her gaze turned dark as her anger built. She pulled her arms from their loosened straps and shook the ones off her feet as she stood.

“Enough! That’s … quite … enough.”

A draft, the tail end of Lew’s storm, maybe, flapped through the broken windows, catching stray bits of paper and shaking ceiling tiles. She had everyone’s attention now. Majors and his people stared, startled by her freedom. She could see them wondering if she really did have powers, but if they were really paying attention, they’d notice Teddy, visible now, standing near Anna and Arthur. And Analise, standing just like she used to as Typhoon, feet apart, shoulders back, arm bent, ready to call the ocean to her if needed. What had happened to spring the lock that had shut off her powers? Teia and Lew, of course. Typhoon had returned to save them. A family of miracle workers.

They all waited for her to do something. What could she say that would make this all stop, make it all go away?

She took off her wig and let it hang by her thigh. There, that inspired audible gasps of shock. As chilled gooseflesh crawled over her naked scalp, she suppressed a shiver.

“You’re wrong about me,” she said to Majors. “I know there’s nothing I can say that will convince you. But you’re wrong. I’m very tired. I’m very … sick right now. I want to go home, and I want my family and my city to be safe. That’s all. I’m going to ask you very simply, very calmly, to let us go. Take your people and go back to Delta. Leave us alone.”

After a long hesitation, Majors offered a wicked smile. “You’re very good. You think of everything, don’t you? A play for sympathy, is it? Thinking I’ll just roll over for you. If the case didn’t go your way, would you have done this in the courtroom? Anything to get people to do what you tell them.”

Not even the worst of her kidnappers had looked on her with such loathing. To the rest of them she’d always been just a tool, a means to an end. But Danton—to him, she was the source of all evil. How very odd.

“She has leukemia,” Arthur said, pleading, desperate. “She’s in the middle of chemotherapy. My God, can’t you see how ill she is?” His power was blocked; he didn’t have to worry about his emotion overpowering the others, so he bared himself and his fear as he begged.